LAST UPDATE | 10 Apr
HAMAS CHIEF ISMAIL Haniyeh has said three of his sons and several of his grandchildren have been killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, The Qatar-based political head of the Palestinian militant group named his three children as Hazem, Amir and Mohammed.
Haniyeh told Al Jazeera that his children were visiting relatives for Eid at the Shati refugee camp in north Gaza when they were targeted.
The news outlet reported Gaza’s media office as saying the children and grandchildren were killed by Israeli fighter jets when a “civilian vehicle” was targeted.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden issued some of his sternest criticism yet of Israel’s offensive on Hamas, calling its approach a “mistake”.
Biden rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict and reiterated the need for a ceasefire.
“I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” Biden told Spanish-language TV network Univision in an interview that aired last night.
He urged Netanyahu “to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country”, in remarks that underscored the dramatic shift in tone from Israel’s main ally and military supporter.
Biden’s comments come as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators seek progress on a truce and hostage release deal that also proposes ramping up aid deliveries to address a worsening hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip.
The White House has said Israel has taken “some steps forward” in securing a truce, while Hamas’s response has been “less than encouraging”.
Under the latest proposal, fighting would stop for six weeks, about 40 women and child hostages in Gaza would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and up to 500 aid trucks would enter Gaza per day, according to a Hamas source.
Haniyeh told Al Jazeera today that the attack of his family is evidence of Israel’s “failure”. He also said that it would not change Hamas’s position in the ongoing ceasefire talks.
Israel has insisted it is not limiting aid and has complied with US and United Nations demands to scale up the deliveries.
The government faces a deadline today from the country’s Supreme Court to demonstrate it has taken steps to increase the flow of humanitarian goods.
The case was brought by five NGOs that accuse Israel of restricting the entry of relief items and failing to provide basic necessities to Palestinians in Gaza.
The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that following reports of imminent famine, more than 40% of food delivery missions were denied in February and March. None of the UNRWA food convoys have been approved since March, it added.
Humanitarians have accused Israel of using starvation as a method of war in Gaza, where UN experts say 1.1 million people – half the population – are experiencing “catastrophic” food insecurity.
The Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the territory, COGAT, said 741 aid trucks had crossed into Gaza on Sunday and Monday, with another 468 entering yesterday.
Before the 7 October start of the conflict, about 500 trucks supplied Gaza daily.
The current conflict broke out with Hamas’s 7 October attack against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Palestinian militants also took about 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,482 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Includes reporting by Lauren Boland, Press Association and © AFP 2024
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